NEWS: WIND Bans William J. Kelly from TEACON 2011

I’m sorry to say that I will not be joining you for TEACON 2011. Unfortunately, I have been barred from the event this weekend – both as credentialed media and as a guest from attending with you. Despite hours of negotiations with AM 560 WIND, they cannot their hate go. Believe me, I have tried very hard not to have to send this email.

TEACON 2011 with Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart is a celebration of all things Tea Party. It is also a celebration of the conservative blogosphere and the advent of citizen journalism. So why is WIND so angry with me? WIND says that I am being barred from TEACON 2011 because of my video scuffle with Rahm Emanuel and CBS reporter Jay Levine last October. Yes, last October. In the video, Rahm avoided my questions about Freddie Mac and the failed stimulus and Levine threatened to deck me. Levine happens to be a friend of WIND host Amy Jacobson.

As you may know, Amy’s conservative conversion is a “recent” thing. She became a WIND co-host in 2010. In 2007, she was fired by NBC after being videotaped in a bikini with her two kids at the home of Craig Stebic, whom she was supposed to be investigating. She admitted a “lapse in judgment.” Since then, Jacobson has used her WIND show to call Andrew Breitbart a “lying and deceiving person.” Listen to the first video above yourself and make up your own mind.

So I am being denied access to TEACON due to my work exposing Rahm Emanuel and biased reporters like Jay Levine? Isn’t that what the TEA PARTY is supposed to be about? I received a call from Andrew Breitbart the other day and he went to bat for me at WIND about this. I just want to thank him for calling them and standing up for me. He is the real deal.

There is no place anymore for conservative cannibalism. With President Obama in the White House, there just isn’t any time for it. But I am including the viral video and Amy Jacobson’s own statements in order to prove my point. I didn’t start it – but I will end it.

Earlier this summer, I hosted the premiere of “The Undefeated” about Gov. Sarah Palin and there were even some conservatives then who tried to undermine that event due to their own petty insecurities. Fortunately, it didn’t work – and the premiere was a smash hit. Even Roger Ebert came and gave the film a decent review. Mindblowing! This helped the film in ways you cannot imagine. Imagine what would happen if Illinois conservatives were actually stuck together?

As for TEACON, what happened here is not the fault of the TEA Party, it is not Glenn Beck or Andrew Breitbart’s problem, and it isn’t Salem Radio Network’s problem either. It is the fault of a few unprofessional people at WIND who want to pretend that they are part of the Tea Party. But in order to be part of the Tea Party, they have to act like it. Pretending is just not good enough anymore.

If you feel, as I do, that conservatives should stick together, let your feelings be known. Call the morning show on AM 560 WIND at (312) 642-5600 and let Amy Jacobson know that anti-conservative gossip has got to stop. Call Jeff Reisman and let him know that the Salem Radio Network is not a place for conservative hate. (847) 437-5200. We need to have a conservative radio station that is actually a conservative radio station – not something else.